So I married a Canadian, now we are seperated but not divorced. I live here in the United States and she lives in Canada. Do I have to claim married on my w-2s and with all of my tax paperwork? Also can we both claim our son since the laws state 6 months out of the year for custody(i think thats the law here in the states)?
2007-08-05 19:52:20 · 2 answers · asked by m_ousley 2 in Business & Finance ➔ Taxes ➔ United States
You have not indicated if you are legally separated with any type of custody order that could effect the filing status. Assuming that there are no such orders the issues is who the child lived with the most. 365 days are not divisible by 2 so one of you must of had the child more. So the person with the child more than 183 days would likely file as Head of Household if you were not living together at any time after June 30th. If that is you the best thing to do is file HoH. You have not indicated if she has income or what its source would be so I will not guess regarding her and I suspect that you don't care. If you do not file HoH the only remaining options are MFJ or MFS.
2007-08-06 04:29:48 · answer #1 · answered by ? 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Only one of you can claim your son on your US tax returns. The custodial parent gets the exemption. The law states that the custodial parent is the one that the child spends the most time with during the year. However, it's entirely possible that you could claim your son on your US return and she could claim him on her Canadian return since you are dealing with two separate jurisdictions.
Generally the custodial parent would file Head of Household as long as you did not live together at any time in the entire last half of the year. If you cannot file HoH, your ONLY option is to file as Married, either Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately.
2007-08-06 00:04:34 · answer #2 · answered by Bostonian In MO 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋